Chong-Sik Lee

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Chong-Sik Lee
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationI Jeongsik
McCune–ReischauerRi Chŏngsik

Chong-Sik Lee (July 30, 1931 – August 17, 2021) was a Korean-American political scientist specializing in East Asian studies.[1] Together with his co-author Robert A. Scalapino, he won the 1974 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book on government, politics or international affairs.[2]

Early life and education[]

Lee was born in Anju, Korea, Japan, and escaped from North Korea to South Korea, then moving to the United States. He was one of the first Koreans to attend and graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He earned his master's degree in political science from UCLA and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Career[]

Korean Studies originated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 when Chong-Sik Lee, one of the nation's leading analysts of Korean affairs, joined the political science department. Lee was Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania[3] and Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University.

Lee’s research of modern Korean history began in 1957 when he began co-authoring Communism in Korea (University of California Press) with Robert A. Scalapino. Published in 1973 after 16 years of research and writing, Communism in Korea was the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book published in the United States in 1974 in government, politics or international affairs.

Communism in Korea was revised and reprinted as North Korea: Building of the Monolithic State in 2017.[4]

Lee’s academic career includes works about Korea’s history of communism, the division of the Korean Peninsula, and the origins of the Republic of Korea. He also researched major figures in modern Korean history such as Syngman Rhee, the first president of Korea (1948-1960); Lyuh Woon-hyung, a Korean politician and reunification activist in the 1940s; and Park Chung-hee, the third president of Korea (1963-1979) who seized power through a military coup. In particular, his works on Korea-Japan relations, communist movements in Manchuria, and the international relations of East Asia have been translated into many languages and are considered classics in East Asian studies.

Having devoted more than five decades to collecting historical records, Lee remarked, “By reading various records, I can gain insight as to why certain events occurred, what led to the occurrence of these events, and why historical figures took particular actions.” Lee often told his students that “the true advancement of scholarship is only possible through a repetitive process of inquiry” and advised them to “accept new theories but to investigate with curiosity when these theories are unconvincing.”

He was the author of The Politics of Korean Nationalism (University of California Press, 1963)[5][6] and Kim Kyu-sik ui saengae (The Life of Kim Kyu-sik), Seoul: Shingu Munhwasa, 1974. Other books include Park Chung Hee: From Poverty to Power (KHU Press) and A 21st Century View of Post-Colonial Korea (Kyung Hee University Press). He has contributed to China Quarterly, Asian Survey, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of International Affairs and other periodicals.[7] Lee died on August 17, 2021 at the age of 90.[8]

Awards[]

References[]

  1. ^ Erik Esselstrom (2009). Crossing Empire's Edge: Foreign Ministry Police and Japanese Expansionism in Northeast Asia. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 159–. ISBN 978-0-8248-3231-5.
  2. ^ "Eminent Scholar Chong-sik Lee Receives Kyung-Ahm Prize" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Kyung Lee University.
  3. ^ "2014 University Lecture on “Korean Thought on Independence Revisited in the 21st Century”". Kyung Hee University.
  4. ^ Geringer, Dan (29 November 2017). "Chong-sik Lee, 86, who escaped from North Korea during wartime, says earthly miracles saved his life". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  5. ^ Peter H. Lee (13 August 2013). Sourcebook of Korean Civilization: Volume Two: From the Seventeenth Century to the Modern. Columbia University Press. pp. 522–. ISBN 978-0-231-51530-6.
  6. ^ Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. North Korea: A Country Study. Government Printing Office. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-0-16-088278-4.
  7. ^ James M. Minnich (2005). The North Korean People's Army: Origins and Current Tactics. Naval Institute Press. pp. 150–. ISBN 978-1-59114-525-7.
  8. ^ 한국현대사 권위자 이정식 교수 별세 (in Korean)
  9. ^ "Eminent Scholar Chong-sik Lee Receives Kyung-Ahm Prize". www.khu.ac.kr. KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
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